Sarah PerryTag:

Melbourne is in the depths of winter. It’s a little different to Glasgow winters – where I would look desperately at the day’s forecast and plead that the top temperature rise above 0 degrees – but it can be quite chilly. Sometimes I have to wear gloves, as well as a scarf and coat. To escape this dreariness, me and my little family recently headed north to Queensland, like the humpback whales, for 12 days of excessive frolicking, lounging, eating and of course, reading.

On this holiday I read 4 totally different books: Phone, Our Women Our Ways Our World, The Essex Serpent and The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly. Here’s a short review of each (and some gratuitous beach photos).

We all know we shouldn’t, and yet we all do. You know what I’m talking about. (No, not that). Yes, that’s right…. Buy a book because of its cover.

As ebooks sales decline and physical books recover some lost ground, some commentators have put this down to the power of the book cover. You only need to go on Instagram for a micro-second to comprehend the appreciation (festishisation?) for the beauty of books – books being playful with fairy lights, books relaxing on beaches, books lying seductively on beds. You can’t create that kind of reverential ambience with your Kindle Fire or Kobi, no matter what.

As a consequence of this renaissance of the beautiful book cover, when I walk into a bookshop these days, more than ever I think, I’m confronted with a visual feast. This makes it oh so much harder for me to resist – not that I’m complaining too much, mind.

Here are five books I bought recently simply because I love their covers.

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About me

My name is Weezelle and I’m a penguin living in Melbourne.
I love books - the texture, the weight, the smell, and especially the scratchy noise of turning a page when you’re reading in bed. I'm also a tea-lover. Tea is the perfect accompaniment to a book. They are complementary sources of solace; comforting and rejuvenating and something to connect over.